Transgender Males as Potential Donors for Uterus Transplantation: A Survey.

Uterus transplantation is a new treatment for patients with absolute uterine infertility that is conducted in order to enable them to carry their own pregnancy. One of the limitations for its development is donor availability. Some transgender males undergo a hysterectomy in the gender-affirming surgery process, and might be interested in donating their uterus for transplantation. In this manuscript, we report the results of a survey designed to determine the attitudes of such individuals regarding donation of their uterus for this purpose. Over 32 years (January 1989-January 2021), 348 biological women underwent hysterectomy at our hospital as part of gender-affirming surgery. The survey was sent to 212 of the 348 prospective participants (for 136, we lacked postal or email addresses). Among the 212 surveys sent, we obtained responses from 94 individuals (44%): 83 (88.3%) stated they would agree to donate, of whom 44 would do so for altruism, 23 for the usefulness of the gesture and 16 out of understanding of the desire to have a child; 63 (75.5%) wanted to know the recipient and 45 (54.2%) wanted to know the result of the donation. According to this survey, a high proportion of transgender males surveyed would be interested in donating their uterus for uterus transplantation.

The uterus in transgender men.

Transgender men experience a disharmony between their birth sex and their intimate sense of gender belonging. Gender-affirming hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgery (GAS) are often inherently part of the gender-affirming process. In this context, we should ask whether it is better to keep or remove the uterus. Keeping the uterus and ovaries avoids a surgical procedure and a pubic scar. Furthermore, it preserves fertility and the possibility of carrying a baby. On the other hand, keeping the uterus is often psychologically unbearable for transgender men and the long-term effects of androgens on the uterus and ovaries remain uncertain. Conversely, hysterectomy and oophorectomy are part of the GAS process. New mini-invasive surgery procedures for hysterectomies decrease the risks and limit the likelihood of scars to a minimum. In practice, the data suggest that very few transgender men carry a pregnancy and/or use their oocytes after gender-reaffirming treatment. Clinicians should counsel their transgender men patients about the definitive infertility consequences of hysterectomy and oophorectomy and discuss all fertility preservation options before undertaking GAS. Individualized approaches must be preferred to systematic procedures regarding the personal decision to keep or not keep the uterus and ovaries.

A pilot study of the effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist therapy on brain activation pattern in a man with pedophilia.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, such as leuprorelin, are recommended in the patients with pedophilia at highest risk of offending. However, the cerebral mechanisms of the effects of these testosterone-decreasing drugs are poorly known. This study aimed to identify changes caused by leuprorelin in a pedophilic patient's brain responses to pictures representing children. Clinical, endocrine, and fMRI investigations were done of a man with pedophilia before leuprorelin therapy and 5 months into leuprorelin therapy. Patient was compared with an age-matched healthy control also assessed 5 months apart. Before therapy, pictures of boys elicited activation in the left calcarine fissure, left insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and left cerebellar vermis. Five months into therapy, all the above-mentioned activations had disappeared. No such activations and, consequently, no such decreases occurred in the healthy control. The results of this pilot study suggest that leuprorelin decreased activity in regions known to mediate the perceptual, motivational, and affective responses to visual sexual stimuli.

Pitch-raising surgery in fourteen male-to-female transsexuals.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the indications and results of pitch-raising surgery in male-to-female transsexual patients. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study of male-to-female transsexual patients who underwent pitch-raising surgery between 1994 and 2001 at a single institution. METHODS: The 14 patients had inadequate improvements after speech therapy alone. After anterior commissure advancement (n = 2), cricothyroid approximation (n = 9), or both (n = 3), results were evaluated subjectively by the patients and speech therapists and objectively by electroglottographic measurement of fundamental frequencies (usual, maximal, and minimal), postoperative gain in usual fundamental frequency, and the percentage of irregularities. RESULTS: Cricothyropexy disruption occurred in two patients. Median follow-up was 6.5 months. Subjective success rates were 78.5% and 71.5% according to the patients and speech therapists, respectively. Usual, maximal, and minimal frequencies increased significantly; median postoperative gain in usual fundamental frequency was 11 Hz. Three of the four patients with a poor objective result continued to smoke after surgery. CONCLUSION: Pitch-raising surgery induces subjective and objective improvements but should be reserved for patients in whom speech therapy is not sufficiently effective.